Has Tinubu Surrendered His Campaign to the Same Governors He Asked Us to Hold to Account Over Poverty, Hunger and Insecurity?
by Mohammed Bello Doka
16 October, 2026.
On October 11, 2026, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stood before the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja and delivered a stunning message to Nigerians: he would not be visiting every state during the 2027 campaign. The President explained that the governors had requested he remain in Abuja to focus on governance while they handle the campaign. “You have warned me and asked me not to allow the rigour of the campaign to distract me from governance,” Tinubu said. “I hear you. I am in full agreement.”
With those words, the President effectively surrendered the campaign to the very governors his administration, his party, and his spokespeople spent three and a half years telling Nigerians to hold accountable for everything that had gone wrong in their lives. The irony is so thick it could be carved with a knife. These are the same governors who were blamed for poverty. The same governors who were blamed for hunger. The same governors who were blamed for insecurity. And now, these are the same governors Tinubu is trusting to deliver his re-election.
The pattern is not new. It began with the primaries. In April 2026, President Tinubu met with APC governors at the Presidential Villa and explicitly ceded his executive power to them to conduct the party primaries. Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago emerged from that meeting to announce: “He has ceded his executive power to the governors to go ahead and conduct primaries based on the Electoral Act, either through consensus or direct primaries.” The President had been under pressure from federal lawmakers to grant automatic tickets, but he refused, choosing instead to hand the fate of senators and representatives to the governors. One political analyst noted the consequence: “President Tinubu has a whole lot of ‘I Owe You’ IOUs to politicians, but he himself is beginning to discover that he cannot do it alone. The forces of the governors will pull him down.”
So the governors took control of the primaries. They decided who got tickets. They decided who was sidelined. And now, they have been handed the campaign itself.
This is the same Tinubu administration that, through Presidential Adviser Daniel Bwala, told Nigerians that “every kidnapping and abduction that takes place in any state of Nigeria, hold that governor responsible.” The same administration that insisted the President is not a prefect to the governors. The same administration that, through Bayo Onanuga, argued that the 133 million multidimensionally poor Nigerians should blame their state governors, not the Federal Government. The same administration that, through FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, claimed the President has no power over how governors spend local government funds. The same administration that, through former officials and current ministers alike, repeatedly told suffering Nigerians to direct their anger at state governors.
Now, when it is time to face the voters, the President has delegated the entire campaign to those same governors. The jokes write themselves. The governors are simultaneously the scapegoats for national failure and the linchpins of Tinubu’s political survival.
The absurdity deepens when one considers what these governors have actually done with the increased allocations they received. The APC itself has argued that governors cannot claim poverty because the Federal Government increased their allocations. But the same party now says governors are responsible for poor performance. Which is it? If increased allocations were supposed to solve problems, why is poverty still rising? The World Bank reported in April 2026 that Nigeria’s poverty rate climbed to 63 percent in 2025, up from 56 percent in 2023, meaning approximately 140 million Nigerians now live below the poverty line. By mid-2026, the World Food Programme projected that 36.3 million Nigerians would face acute food insecurity during the lean season. The Food and Agriculture Organization warned that 34.7 million people were projected to face crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity by mid-2026, including more than 5.4 million acutely malnourished children. The National Human Rights Commission documented mass killings and abductions across Nigeria in April 2026 alone, with bandits attacking communities in Niger, Plateau, Zamfara, Adamawa, Benue, and Kaduna states. The Allied Peoples Movement alleged that over 600,000 Nigerians have been killed since 2023 and approximately 2.2 million abducted.
These are the numbers that define Tinubu’s Nigeria. And these are the numbers that the President’s spokespeople want Nigerians to blame their governors for. But if the governors are responsible, then who appointed those governors? Who campaigned for them? Who controls the party machinery that gave them tickets? The answer is Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
There is another dimension to this crisis that cannot be ignored: the internal contradictions within the APC itself. The Progressive Governors Forum, led by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, has publicly clashed with FCT Minister Nyesom Wike over the so-called Rainbow Coalition. The governors issued a statement warning against any political arrangement that could undermine Tinubu’s re-election, while Wike, who is not even a member of the APC, has been openly working for the President’s re-election from outside the party. This internal feud exposes the fragility of the coalition Tinubu now depends on to win. The same party that cannot manage its own governors expects Nigerians to believe it can manage the country.
The money question also hangs in the air. There have been allegations that APC governors diverted funds from federal allocations to finance the President’s re-election campaign. While these allegations remain unproven, the very fact that they are credible enough to be widely discussed speaks to the rot within the system. Resources meant for the development of states, for the alleviation of poverty, for the improvement of security, are allegedly being funneled into political campaigns. And then, when the money disappears, the same governors turn around and claim they have nothing to show for the allocations they received. The circle is complete: take the money, blame the Federal Government, campaign for the President, and get rewarded with another term.
The fundamental contradiction cannot be escaped. For three and a half years, Tinubu’s allies told Nigerians that the President is not responsible for the suffering of the people. The governors are responsible. Hold them to account. But when it came time to secure his own power, Tinubu did not hold the governors to account. He handed them the keys to the party. He handed them the primaries. He handed them the campaign. He is now relying on them to deliver his re-election.
This is not leadership. This is a surrender disguised as statesmanship. It is the abdication of responsibility by a President who campaigned on the promise of taking full accountability. If the governors are responsible for everything bad that happens in Nigeria, then the President who empowers them, campaigns with them, and depends on them is equally responsible. The buck does not stop at the state house. It stops at the Presidential Villa.
There is no better time than now to hold both the governors and the President to account. The ballots will soon be in the hands of Nigerians. The same citizens who have been told to direct their anger at governors now have the opportunity to direct their votes at the entire system. The APC has controlled the Federal Government for nearly a decade. It controls the majority of states. It controls the National Assembly. And yet, poverty has risen. Hunger has deepened. Insecurity has worsened. The party’s response has been to blame its own governors while relying on them to win elections.
That contradiction cannot survive the scrutiny of an informed electorate. Nigerians who have suffered through these years of hardship have a choice to make. They can accept the blame game and the shifting of responsibility. Or they can send a clear message that accountability begins at the top. The APC and its governors have had their chance. They have had the allocations. They have had the power. They have had the time. And what have they delivered? A nation where nearly eight out of ten citizens are poor or one shock away from poverty. A nation where millions go hungry while politicians fight over campaign coalitions. A nation where the President tells you to blame governors, then asks those same governors to deliver his re-election.
The time for accountability is now. The polls are the only mechanism left for Nigerians to demand better. Sweep them out. All of them. The President and his governors. The party that has failed. It is not just a political choice. It is a matter of national survival.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via bellodoka82@gmail.com
